Sidecar Will Expand its Carpool From People to Packages

Ride-hailing start-up Sidecar has come up with a new same-day delivery facility called Sidecar Deliveries. This means that the company will transport not only people but people’s packages as well, it confirmed on Monday.

The service is basically offered to the companies related to the business of selling of daily use items such as food, groceries and so on. So the project is likely to occur as a blessing to restaurants, grocers, and stores who do not have a delivery service previously.

The same drivers which are on the task of carpooling with service seeking strangers, will staff the same-day service. Thus the company believes that the new service will save money and time for its users.

“All of these companies have been trying to figure out the last mile problem of same-day delivery forever,” Sunil Paul, chief executive of Sidecar, said in an interview. “We’re creating the maximum efficiency possible in any particular trip.”

Sidecar is, indeed, amidst many rivals in the ride-hailing service. Already confronting the challenge of the likes of Uber and Lyft, San Francisco-based Sidecar will come in opposition to many others too. One of the biggest competitor will possibly be GrubHub which has a stable service for online food ordering. Similarly, Sidecar will have to face the challenge of start-up Postmates with colossal network of food delivery services.

In addition to the competition with ride-hailing service providers and food delivery service providers, Sidecar will challenge Google and Amazon, too. Both the tech giants have already ventured into same-day delivery projects. Google, through its Shopping Express, receives the orders online and deliver the ordered items within 24 hours. Most importantly, the users get free membership for the duration of three months if, and only if, they are living in the delivery areas which are pre-selected.

Whatsoever, a feature which will possibly give an edge to Sidecar, can be the facility of people+package thing. Obviously, the links it has made through its carpool service will help it in expanding the business.